There are some who believe that God was caught unaware when Adam and Eve sinned. But this flies in the face of what scripture teaches.

Ephesians 1:3-4

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love

Revelation 13:8

8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.

1 Peter 1:20

20 For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you

So no, God was not caught unaware when Adam and Eve sinned. Jesus was not Plan B. It was always in God’s plan to provide a solution to the problem of man’s sin. That solution is, and has always been, the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God. It is only by grace through faith in the saving work of Christ that we may truly live – live an eternal life.

Originally, mankind was given seed bearing plants to eat by God. This does not mean man only ate seed bearing plants, but that seed bearing plants were all man was allowed by God to eat. We know there were sinners before the flood and it may be that men sinned that way – but scripture does not tell us that either way.

Genesis 1:29-30

29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

There WAS a notion of clean and unclean animals at the time of Noah, as we see in Genesis 7:2-3, before the flood, before any mention of animals being eaten.

Genesis 7:2-3

2 Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth

But after the flood, God gave Noah and his sons everything that lives and moves (ie. land animals and fish and birds) to eat. To underscore this, he reminded Noah that He had originally given the green plants to eat, and in the same way He was giving all animals to eat.

Genesis 9:3-4

3 Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. 4 “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.

It was not until God gave the Law to Israel that we see a separation of eating clean animals and not eating unclean animals.

Leviticus 11

1And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them,2 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, These are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth.3 Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat.4 Nevertheless, among those that chew the cud or part the hoof, you shall not eat these: The camel, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you.5 And the rock badger, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you.6 And the hare, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you.7 And the pig, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you.8 You shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you.

9 “These you may eat, of all that are in the waters. Everything in the waters that has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat.10 But anything in the seas or the rivers that does not have fins and scales, of the swarming creatures in the waters and of the living creatures that are in the waters, is detestable to you.11 You shall regard them as detestable; you shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall detest their carcasses.12 Everything in the waters that does not have fins and scales is detestable to you.

13 “And these you shall detest among the birds; they shall not be eaten; they are detestable: the eagle, the bearded vulture, the black vulture,14 the kite, the falcon of any kind,15 every raven of any kind,16 the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the hawk of any kind,17 the little owl, the cormorant, the short-eared owl,18 the barn owl, the tawny owl, the carrion vulture,19 the stork, the heron of any kind, the hoopoe, and the bat.

20 “All winged insects that go on all fours are detestable to you.21 Yet among the winged insects that go on all fours you may eat those that have jointed legs above their feet, with which to hop on the ground.22 Of them you may eat: the locust of any kind, the bald locust of any kind, the cricket of any kind, and the grasshopper of any kind.23 But all other winged insects that have four feet are detestable to you.

24 “And by these you shall become unclean. Whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening,25 and whoever carries any part of their carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening.26 Every animal that parts the hoof but is not cloven-footed or does not chew the cud is unclean to you. Everyone who touches them shall be unclean.27 And all that walk on their paws, among the animals that go on all fours, are unclean to you. Whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening,28 and he who carries their carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening; they are unclean to you.

29 “And these are unclean to you among the swarming things that swarm on the ground: the mole rat, the mouse, the great lizard of any kind,30 the gecko, the monitor lizard, the lizard, the sand lizard, and the chameleon.31 These are unclean to you among all that swarm. Whoever touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until the evening.32 And anything on which any of them falls when they are dead shall be unclean, whether it is an article of wood or a garment or a skin or a sack, any article that is used for any purpose. It must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the evening; then it shall be clean.33 And if any of them falls into any earthenware vessel, all that is in it shall be unclean, and you shall break it.34 Any food in it that could be eaten, on which water comes, shall be unclean. And all drink that could be drunk from every such vessel shall be unclean.35 And everything on which any part of their carcass falls shall be unclean. Whether oven or stove, it shall be broken in pieces. They are unclean and shall remain unclean for you.36 Nevertheless, a spring or a cistern holding water shall be clean, but whoever touches a carcass in them shall be unclean.37 And if any part of their carcass falls upon any seed grain that is to be sown, it is clean,38 but if water is put on the seed and any part of their carcass falls on it, it is unclean to you.

39 “And if any animal which you may eat dies, whoever touches its carcass shall be unclean until the evening,40 and whoever eats of its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. And whoever carries the carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening.

41 “Every swarming thing that swarms on the ground is detestable; it shall not be eaten.42 Whatever goes on its belly, and whatever goes on all fours, or whatever has many feet, any swarming thing that swarms on the ground, you shall not eat, for they are detestable.43 You shall not make yourselves detestable with any swarming thing that swarms, and you shall not defile yourselves with them, and become unclean through them.44 For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground.45 For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”

46 This is the law about beast and bird and every living creature that moves through the waters and every creature that swarms on the ground,47 to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean and between the living creature that may be eaten and the living creature that may not be eaten.

And then in the New Testament, we see that Jesus declared all food clean – that nothing from outside a man (including food) can make him unclean – in Mark 7:14-19.

14 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15 Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’ “ 17After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18“Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’? 19For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods “clean.”)

The only stipulation the church was given was to not eat food which had been sacrificed to idols, and not eat meat of strangled animals. .
Acts 15:28-29

28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements:29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.

So men were given permission to eat plants at the beginning of creation. Then after the flood, God gave permission for men to eat animal meat as well as plants. We do not see in scripture whether men obeyed or not, concerning what they could eat – just that God did not give permission for men to eat anything other than plants until after the flood. Then in the New Testament, men were given permission to eat all food.

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So many times I see or hear people worrying about how they look or how they speak. Or they worry about this or that birth defect or abnormality their child may or does have. It struck me this morning as I was listening to Chuck Swindoll that GOD makes people how He makes them.

It is GOD who makes people’s mouths, and ears and tongues, etc. God makes people deaf or mute. God makes them able to see, or not.

We see this in Exodus 4:11

11 The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord?

We see that GOD knit them together in their mother.

Psalm 139:13

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

God does it so HE may be glorified.

John 9

1As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

6 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes.7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

We have to realize that God does not change His mind. He speaks, and He accomplishes His will.

Numbers 23:19

19 “God is not a man, that He should lie,Nor a son of man, that He should repent;Has He said, and will He not do it?Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

Isaiah 46:9-10

9 “Remember the former things long past,For I am God, and there is no other;I am God, and there is no one like Me,10 Declaring the end from the beginning,And from ancient times things which have not been done,Saying, ‘My purpose will be established,And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’

More than that, we have to recall that God loves us.

Romans 5:8

8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

God makes no mistakes. God decides how things will be and speaks and it is so. God makes people with what we might consider to be defects. But God makes no mistakes, so they are not defects. People are made as God wants them to be made.

So be grateful for how God has made you, even if you seem different. Be grateful for the fact that God made you so the works of God could be made manifest in you. Know that God has purpose in having created you or your child as He has. Seek it and embrace it. Seek God and embrace God.

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If you believe the earth and universe are millions of years old, then you must deal with whether Jesus, the Son of God, our Lord and Savior, was wrong.

Was Jesus wrong? Was there millions or billions of years between the beginning of creation and Adam and Eve being made? Were Adam and Eve created at the end of creation, or within 5 days of creation? Or was Jesus right?

Mark 10:6
But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’

Matthew 19:4
And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female’”

The point is made by the author that Jesus said “from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’ and then looks at the idea that there would have been millions or billions of years counted as “the beginning” when we are in the end times for only a few thousand years.

“It is strange that one would think that 13 billion years or so have passed and that all of it is the beginning of creation—and now suddenly we are at the end after a few “measly” thousand years (e.g., Acts 2:17; Hebrews 1:2; 1 Peter 4:7). Going back to our movie illustration, this would be like telling someone that the end was the last second of a movie and that the other two hours of it were only the beginning.”

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I’ve heard lots of arguments for God having used long periods of time during creation.

I’ve seen people use Psalm 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8 to say that God used long periods of time to create the universe and the world and everything in them.

While it may be possible that the word day and the use of evening and morning MAY be more than a 24 hour period, Norman Gueisler’s various explanations are not compelling at all. He is trying to justify not taking scripture at face value. I find his ideas about various gap theories to be adding to what is there in Genesis. It is normal reading to understand the six days of creation as actual days.

Moses certainly seemed to think God created heaven and earth in six literal days.

Exodus 20:11
For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

Yes, with the passages which mention a thousand years is like a day, you can make any verse where time is used to mean anything you want it to mean, but that doesn’t mean that is the right understanding of scripture.

The plain reading of scripture in creation does not lead one to believe God used a long period of time for creation.

Someone has stated, “[T]ime and its definition is a man made contrivance. Light year, Lunar year, Solar year, Atomic time etc… Not sure any one of us can relate time to God who is eternal.”

God is outside time. But man is not.

Man wrote as directed by God in a language understandable to man. God chose to interact with man, and He used language that is understandable to man to do it. The language used indicates a specific amount of time, and this appears to be something Moses (the one used by God to describe creation) understood as actual days.

Some people have chosen to take a naturalist position in trying to understand creation (which I dont have a problem with) and then try to change the meaning of what is written (which I do have a problem with).

I think the plain reading makes sense, given that nothing is impossible with God. If its too much to take God at His word when we speak of the miracle of creation, why would it not be too much to take God at His word when we speak of the incarnation, suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ? What makes one more reasonable than the other, when both are miracles?

Yes, there are places where the geneology seems to be missing one or two generations. So we may not be exact in dating the human poopulation by going by just the genealogies, but we know the genealogies are not missing centuries or millions of years.

So, going by the plain reading of scripture, and taking it at face value, I’d say the earth is young.

Does this mean the bible is incompatible with science? No. There are plenty of scientists who believe in a young earth. What it means is that naturalism is in competition with biblical creationism that supports a young earth. The facts from the geological record and other sources outside the Bible remain the same and are not refuted by either side. What IS debated is both the starting point (whether there is a God who created via a miracle in six literal days as laid out in the Bible, or whether we say that the universe was created by chance, or for some by God, billions/millions of years ago over a span of miullions/billions of years) and the interpretation of the data. That starting point changes your interpretation of the data. Will you have the world (which says there is no God and no miracles) as your authority of faith, or will you have the Bible? If you use the world to interpret the miracle of creation as laid out in Genesis in the Bible, then why do you not let the world (which generally does not accept miracles or a God) interpret the miracle of sending the Son of God to be born of a virgin, to live a perfect sinless life, to suffer and die and be resurrected again on the third day?

While young earth is not a hill I will die upon and would not cause me to lose faith if I find later that God intended us to understand something different than a short period of time was used for creation, It does seem that one must use something outside of scripture as ones authority to decide to make scripture mean something other than what the plain reading would have you understand. This makes one wonder where else does one attempt to make scripture mean something other than what the plain reading would have one understand. This make one wonder why would one use the world to interpret scripture instead of using scripture to interpret the world? Why give the authority to man instead of to God?

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I know a lot of people are really foaming at the mouth because a couple of people “debated” the creation of the universe, whether it is this old or that old. But the actual meat of the discussion is lost if you think its evolution which matters. Scientists who believe in evolution and scientists who believe in creation and scientists who believe in a hybrid of the two views will never agree, because there is a basic difference in how they view the world.

These things are agreed upon by all scientists. No debate there. The debate is not really about whether radiometric dating is accurate. The debate is whether a god exists. The debate is whether a god exists and did create in one way or another.

But there’s a problem with Christian’s getting hung up on whether the earth is old or young. Yes, I have definite opinions on the age of the earth. But….

We have not been told to prove young earth or old earth. but to make disciples, teaching them what Christ commanded.

Matthew 28:19-20 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

How do we make disciples?

Luke 11:28 He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the wordofGod and obeyit.”

People must hear and obey…. Indeed, scripture tells us “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.”

Romans 10:9-17

9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

16 But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” 17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.

We are to preach the word of God. I am glad Ken Ham and Bill Nye had this debate, even if I think it will not convince anyone either way.

The Gospel was presented, and that is what matters most. IF we get bogged down with the question being whether the bible right about science, then we are missing the point of what God said to do. The question should be are you preaching the word of God? This is what the apostles did – because there is no other name by which we MUST BE SAVED.

Acts 4:1-2 1 The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2 They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.

Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

Acts 5:29-32 29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! 30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. 31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. 32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

It is the Word of God which judges our thoughts and attitudes:

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

We are to proclaim the word of God and let people reject it or accept it.

Acts 13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.

It is up to GOD as to who will accept or reject the Word of God.

Ephesians 2:10

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do

Philippians 2:13

for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

People will not be killed because they argued for or against evolution, but because of the Word of God.

Revelation 6:9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.

So yeah, discussion and debtate is good – but its the Word of God which people must hear and respond to.